No ADHD/Aspbergers for DD. More testing
Oh, your little one fainted.
That had to be upsetting.
You know, I just get this "thank goodness" feeling when parents are getting down to what is really going on. It wasn't as if I was holding my breath but I just feel this "Whew" going on. Thank goodness for "gut" feelings and for folks who urge you to listen to those feelings. Great job being persistant!
Friartub, I'm really glad you pushed and found a panel of doctors to listen to you. I think the docs are very wise to do all the medical tests necessary to rule causes in or out. Just to assure you -- my 10-year-old daughter has had an MRI once (and probably a second one this spring) and an EEG twice. For the MRI, she was sedated and was none the worse for wear when she woke up. Because of her age, your DD will also be sedated. For the short EEG, we had to keep her up late and wake her up early so she would fall asleep on the exam table. For the 72-hour EEG she just had to go to an outpatient center and be hooked up to electrodes placed on her head and gauze wrapped all around to keep the electrodes in place. She looked like a mummy! She wore a walkman-like machine around her waist to record the brain waves. It was much better than spending 3 days in the hospital.
Good luck with all the tests. And please keep us posted on your progress.
That's great that you have a multidisciplinary team to work with. It sounds like you are on the right track and will be getting the support you need to help her. I am curious if the speech delays are related to the hearing loss or more developmental in nature. When you say "speech", do you mean speech as in articulation or language? I was interested when you mentioned Olvera Street, because many years ago I worked with hearing impaired children at LA's school for the Deaf. I taught regular Deaf and Hard of Hearing kids and Deaf Multihandicapped (hearing impairment w/ CP, MR, autistic behavior, vision imp., phys. handicap, etc)
My best wishes for you and DD. I'll be waitng to hear how things go.
Small mom what results did they find if any?Where seizures a part of any of the childs issue also. There are different types of these. What did the clinic decide. Our son has language delays. He struggled motor skills wise also. I want to thank you for your supportive posts in my last post. DD, age 5 (today!), was diagnosed ADHD last spring. Per prompting on this board and a genuine discomfort with the diagnosis, I pushed for more through our HMO. This week, we went to an appointment at an autism clinic and met with a pediatric neurologist, child psychologist, developmental pediatrician, OT, ST and social worker.
DD's behaviors mimic both ADHD and Aspberger's but they panel felt it isn't either. The neurologist and psychologist want an MRI and EEG. They suspect a disconnect with the frontal lobe of her brain. She has full force sensory integration disorder. They did substantial bloodwork- my poor wee one fainted.
We've been accepted to the autism clinic and have access to the team members and they want to see her again. I asked them to please tell me I'm overly worried and she'll grow out of this. They wouldn't, said there's something significant going on and DD is showing delays in motor skills and speech. The psychiatrist who saw DD originally dismissed these concerns and said there was no reason for additional testing as many conditions are treated by the same protocol anyway.
So we have access to real help within out HMO. We don't have answers yet. And the clinic is two hours away- but accessible by train and subway to avoid rush hour.
After the appointment, I took DD for lunch at Olvera Street in Los Angeles. She fed pigeons for over an hour until I had to stop her- she wanted to stomp them and bring them home for her collection of dead pigeons.
DH pretty much froze when I told him that DD is about to have a brain scan, I think he's finally recognizing someone else thinks something is up. He's really afraid of her feeling and being stigmatized.
If anyone else has Kaiser, I'm glad to offer my two cents on breaking through the system to get real help.
Hugs to you all-
:)
Congrats for finding good help. I am assuming your child has a form of autism that is not Aspergers. My son has PDD-NOS, which is atypical autism that includes a speech delay and social problems and he's doing great. The wonderful thing about autistic spectrum kids is much they improve. Whenever I see ADHD and sensory together I think "autism" and I'm often right. If she is different, she WILL be stigmitized in some way, label or no label. That's the way of the world for people who are different, but that doesn't mean she can't live a happy, full life. My son is a very happy boy, although a bit of an "odd duck."
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